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When search engines were born, there was a search engine results page that almost completely mimics what we see today: a URL, a description (perhaps), and a link for related sites.
Not much has changed within 10 or so years. We still see a search result, a description, and perhaps a link to similar pages, among other options.
For the most part, things have remained the same. But Dr. Pete shows that the SERP is changing, most notably with direct access to Onebox -- without SERPs at all. This behavior can be acknowledged with the iPhone and with Mozilla's Ubiquity.
Is this the end of the favored SERP, then? Not so much. Dr. Pete suggests that you don't ignore the opportunities to adapt (and preferably early) so that you can take advantage of these opportunities.
While this isn't an entirely new phenomenon, it's important to realize the correlation of this to personalized search: that the "10 blue links" may be replaced with multimedia, maps, and more. Blended search is becoming increasingly more mainstream, so it's not something to overlook.
Forum discussion continues at Sphinn.
Comments:
Barrie Adams
09/10/2008 02:58 pm
I've got butterflies in my stomach after reading this, I'm ready to adapt to whatever Google etc decide to do next, but what does this mean for the SEO company? anyone care to answer?
No Name
09/10/2008 03:46 pm
is to eary to say that serp´s is going to dissapear, that means that firefox and ie will dissapear too. Remember that Google is not internet.
Dr. Pete
09/10/2008 04:25 pm
Thanks for the shout-out, Tamar. I feel almost famous now ;) When these changes started popping up, I have to admit that, even given my usability leanings, I wanted to hide my head in the sand. The pace of change is already so fast, and the learning curve can be daunting. As I play around with these new options, though, and see how they could benefit customers, I'm more and more excited about the possibilities. The internet is still very young, and change is inevitable.
Jim Gaudet
09/10/2008 06:24 pm
The reason I search Google, besides the good results, is the speed. i can't see that adding maps and videos and pictures to the results page is going to help. To me this sucks, I hope they leave an option to use the old results page.. ~ Jim
Shimon Sandler
09/10/2008 08:47 pm
They'll always be a result to optimize for an advertiser.
No Name
09/11/2008 04:30 am
I think the SERPs will always be with us, but the results will get more and more different for each user based on location, time of day, season, past search history, current events and so on.
Rob Abdul
09/11/2008 09:28 am
It is all about convergence my friends. Mobile web will be big in 2010. I’ve already started to design my CMS, forum, blog and other web applications to become mobile friendly. I’m getting ready to surf the wave that the Google Gods deliver. SERP’s is something that is ingrained into human nature. We need choices. SERP’s will always be there in some form or another.